Rise of the Dark Masters
by Birdboy
Summary: As the Chosen Children fought Vamdemon on Earth, digimon all over the Digital World suffered under and resisted an even worse group of conquerors and waited for their heroes' return. Written for the 15th digimon anniversary.


For a time, it seemed like the legend of the Chosen Children was true, and the Digital World's liberation at hand.

Seven children – not eight, but few were interested in quibbling about the details – from another world had in fact entered the Digital World. Seven digimon – again not eight – had in fact evolved far faster than nature allowed, going from their second Baby stage all the way to the Adult level in the space of a day, and half of them had reached Perfect only a few months later. They had freed File Island from Devimon, freeing countless digimon from black gears or the destruction of black gear digimon along the way. They had sailed to Server, where they had likewise stopped Etemon and battled repeatedly with Vamdemon.

And then Vamdemon disappeared into the digital gate, intent on invading the Chosen Children's home world, and the seven children chased after him to find their last comrade and gain their power; the eighth child was important after all.

But defeating Devimon, Etemon, and Vamdemon was not the same as saving the Digital World, and there remained many unconquered villains – some of whom were eager to take advantage of the power vacuum. For time did not flow in the same way in the Digital World as in the Chosen Children's home, and two days of battle there meant many years for the Digital World's villains to amass power unopposed. Although there were many local tyrants who rose and fell in these years of chaos, the most important villains to take advantage of this power vacuum were Metal Seadramon, Pinocchimon, Mugendramon, and Piemon; four Ultimate digimon who had agreed to partition the Digital World between them and remake it in their image, and grew closer to their goal every day.

* * *

"So I hear there's a new digimon overlord in town. Wanna sign up?" the Gazimon asked his comrade. Work had been hard to come by since Etemon was defeated – he had considered joining Vamdemon's army, but reconsidered as soon as he heard of Nanimon's training regimen, which was mandatory for all new recruits of Child level. Some of his friends had turned their back on reality entirely, imbibing the Mushrooms of Forgetfulness and spending their days in a drug-induced stupor, while others had abandoned the life of a minion and tried to live on their own, despite being extorted regularly by Vamdemon's minions for tribute. But Vamdemon was gone now – if he was to become king of the Digital World as he always boasted, it would only be after conquering Earth – and perhaps this "Pinocchimon" offered a better deal.

"No way. I heard from Floramon and Deramon that being his minion's even more dangerous than being his subject. Etemon was a jerk, but this guy's nuts. Say the wrong thing and he'll kill you with his hammer," the other Gazimon answered, shaking his head.

The first Gazimon sighed, drooping his long ears. "Why did the Chosen Children have to kill Etemon? I admit he was a bit of a jackass, but that's as good as it gets in the Digital World these days, and look at who replaced him. Some heroes they turned out to be."

Had Etemon's dark network been truly destroyed, as the Gazimon had long believed, this conversation could have been held in safety. But the first act of the paranoid Pinocchimon had been to repurpose its remnants, and his surveillance over the lands he controlled was unparalleled; in time, he would learn to use it to move the very people and objects in his territory as he pleased.

Pinocchimon had heard every word the Gazimon said, and was not a digimon to forgive even the mildest of offenses not even meant for his ears – and although he could not use the roads themselves to drag them to his mansion as punishment, he still somehow managed to never be very far from anyone in his domain. His puppet body stood no taller than that of the Gazimon, but the fear with which the two reacted to Pinocchimon suddenly dropping out of a nearby tree betrayed their immense difference in power.

"So you like Etemon more than me? You can die with him! Bullet Hammer!"

The bolts of energy from Pinocchimon's hammer – a weapon the size of his body, which would have been comically oversized were it not so deadly – vaporized the Gazimon who had gave the warning in an instant, but intentionally missed the aspiring minion, who fell to his knees.

"I only wanted to serve you, Lord Pinocchimon!" the surviving Gazimon cried, prostrating himself before his friend's killer and hiding his tears in the ground.

"Okay, you're my minion now. And this is what I do to minions who insult me! Bullet Hammer!"

* * *

Tonosama Gekomon, King of the Otamamon and Gekomon and Lord of Geko Castle, had been roused from his centuries-long slumber by the Child of Purity's voice. He spent his few waking minutes attacking his own subjects, then lost to the Child of Courage's Metal Greymon and went back to sleep under a pile of rubble.

On a day-to-day level, this was of little consequence. Tonosama Gekomon had been sleeping for ages without any problems, and the Gekomon regents of old initially reasserted their authority when he went back to bed. Yet Mimi's song and their king's rampage presented an ideological challenge to the actual rulers of Geko Castle; it was one thing to wait for the great king of their legends to awaken, but why wait for an easily enraged tyrant?

Another sovereign had caught the attention of many Otamamon and Gekomon – one who had begun her reign over their home by selfishly exploiting the legends around her to make her subjects bring her anything and everything she could ever desire. But her beautiful voice had awakened Tonosama Gekomon, and her tearful apology for the misdeeds of her early reign had won many hearts, as had her willingness to stand up to a lord from whom everyone else had fled.

Some of the Otamamon and Gekomon had even forgotten that it was Taichi and Metal Greymon, not Mimi and Togemon, who had actually put Tonosama Gekomon back to sleep – and even her earlier greed had been reinterpreted as their small castle being insufficient to support the lifestyle of a mighty foreign princess. A popular movement had developed to depose Tonosama Gekomon and elect the Child of Purity as their Sovereign Princess, and the Gekomon regents, no happier with their tyrant king than the masses were (and well aware that a Chosen Child would be too busy adventuring to actually rule) eagerly acquiesced.

Mimi was still in the human world when Mugendramon, who had already expanded his territory through the great cities of the Digital World, came for Geko Castle. Mugendramon had sent out a Hagurumon minion to discuss terms of surrender, for he wished to place Geko Castle among the other landmarks of his capital, but it would be used as a fortification and damaged in any fight and a ruined castle was only useful as a source of stone.

But the regents had responded that they lacked the authority to surrender, for their princess was battling Vamdemon in the human world, and that they would need to get in touch with Gennai and Kentarumon to contact her. Mugendramon took offense to this response, although the Gekomon were unsure whether it was the transparent delaying tactic or the reference to a Chosen Child which had so offended him. Yet something in their response surely had alienated him, for they next heard from Mugendramon when an Infinity Cannon annihilated one of Geko Castle's walls.

Either Tonosama Gekomon's second slumber was not quite as deep as the first, or (given his loud and archaic musical taste) a cannon blast was just as effective a means of waking him up as a Chosen Child's song. Whether from rage or a genuine change of heart, Tonosama Gekomon fought back, and his musical attacks rippled across the waves to his Ultimate foe across the lake. But although the water reacted like it had been struck by a typhoon, his attack was unable to penetrate Mugendramon's chrome digizoid armor.

A few blasts later, Geko Castle was no more, its former inhabitants hunted down by Mugendramon's Metal Empire army. Some of the Otamamon and Gekmon had fled to other lands, for Pinocchimon, Piemon, and Metal Seadramon bore them no particular animosity, and some parts of the Digital World remained free at this point – although the refugees still more often than not found it prudent to stay in hiding. Those who did not escape met Mugendramon's rage and were annihilated as completely as their castle had been. Ironically, Tonosama Gekomon was not among the dead; he had found an excellent hiding place on the shore below where the castle once stood and resumed his years-long slumber.

The Gekomon exiles, however, had not lost their hope; the stories of a mighty sleeping king who would bring them to glory did not vanish after Tonosama Gekomon's defeat, but changed in form. Princess Mimi was now their once and future leader – although she was on Earth and not in hibernation – and she would someday return to the Digital World with her comrades to liberate her subjects, and the rest of the digimon with them.

* * *

The digimon of File Island had prepared to resist Piemon's invasion – not because they had any realistic hope of victory, but because the Chosen Children had freed their island from Devimon, and they were unwilling to dishonor their legendary saviors by giving up without a fight.

Although Andromon was the strongest digimon on the island, and the sole one to have reached the Perfect level, Leomon had fought against Devimon and had a reputation as a hero of justice even before his reign, so he was left in charge of a resistance with little hope of victory.

Weaker digimon the world over had fought valiantly against the Dark Masters, preferring an honorable death to the living hell where they could be killed or enslaved for the slightest misstep under the Dark Masters' reign. Many of these digimon had already been reborn in the Village of Beginnings, while others who did not die fled as refugees to File Island and those other few places the Dark Masters had yet to subjugate.

Not that it mattered – the Dark Masters had spent two years conquering, had taken over the vast majority of the Digital World, and hadn't lost a battle yet. And as Leomon's makeshift army stood before Piemon and his Nightmare Soldiers, even their leader didn't think they stood a chance.

Yet the light of the digivices in the battle against Devimon would bring the Digital World another miracle. "Leomon, Warp Shinka! Saber Leomon!" His evolution was an atavistic one; his fur turned yellower, a humanoid lion changed to one walking on all fours, and evolution gave him the long, razor-sharp fangs of the lion's distant and extinct Machairodont relatives.

And with this bestial power, Piemon's unprepared minions were easy prey for a single, remarkably pinpoint and scattered "Infinity Arrow!" Those who survived the needles of fur and refused to surrender, or had been implicated in known atrocities, would soon be slain by a saber-toothed bite to the neck, while other minions would switch sides mid-battle. Piemon himself struggled in the fight – in part from surprise, in part from Andromon's ability to cross swords with him and the ease in which his army broke; he was soon forced to flee while blocking a series of Infinity Arrows with his magical and surprisingly resilient cloth.

Some would say of the battle that Piemon had grown arrogant and forgotten the possibility of defeat. Others would call it a miracle – and a proof that the Chosen Children had not yet abandoned them, and that they would return from defeating Vamdemon stronger then ever and bring forth the greatest miracle of all.

Tragically, as inspiring as File Island's resistance had been, it would prove short-lived. File was an island, after all – one distant from any continent – and a defeated Piemon had no problem with transferring the right to conquer it to the Dark Master of the sea.

Leomon would command the defense of the island once again a month later, but without a Chosen partner to evolve him on command, he had not learned how to turn evolution from a miracle into a strategy. Unable to become Saber Leomon again, he had no choice but to command his digimon forces to scatter.

File Island was the last part of the Digital World to fall. But it, too, would fall. Kentarumon's last dispatch from the island relayed the news from Gennai that the Chosen Children were fighting a resurrected and ultimately evolved Vamdemon on Earth.

* * *

"I guess all we can do now is wait for the Chosen Children," a dejected Chuumon said to his Sukamon partner. "Leomon couldn't even fight this time around, but the rumor is that two of their digimon have reached the ultimate level and are winning against Venom Vamdemon."

"Like it really makes a difference," Sukamon answered. "We survived Devimon. We're virus types anyway. Why's everyone think the Chosen Children are so great? For all I know we'll be better off under the Dark Masters."

"Is this because you're still bitter that Mimi turned you down?" Chuumon asked.

"I'm a poop-type digimon. If I got bitter every time a girl turned me down, I'd have nothing in me _but_ bitterness. But she didn't have to be so rude about it, especially after we led her to that other Chosen Child.

I'm not saying she's a bad digimon, but she's the only one I met, and she certainly didn't strike me as a legendary, world-saving hero," Sukamon answered with a sigh.

"A bad person. They're called people. And to be fair, we did try to rob her first," Chuumon responded.

"Right. I forgot about that... but look, we're virus types, so are the dark masters, and the Chosen Children's digimon are all data and vaccines. And at least the Dark Masters won't be fighting each other. I still think we'll be better off – how do we know they're not trying to save the world from thieves like us too?" Sukamon responded, as the ground began to shake beneath them.

The two digimon fled desperately, seeking stable ground, and Chuumon was a slightly faster digimon than Sukamon; it was this fact which saved his life. When the ground burst open and the world rearranged itself, Sukamon fell into the abyss and was deleted with the Digital World's old borders; Chuumon survived, but wondered if he should envy his fallen comrade.

To Metal Seadramon, Mugendramon, Piemon, and Pinnochimon, this grand rearrangement was the culmination of their conquest of the Digital World – the world itself reshaped to their desires. To the vast majority of digimon, it meant geographical separation from everyone they knew who wasn't in their immediate vicinity when Spiral Mountain rose; what was once down the street had become halfway around the world, and there were no more maps to deal with the chaos. Neighbors became strangers, allies and rebels hopelessly disconnected, and the Dark Masters considered resistance impossible. For many other digimon, it meant instant death, for they shared Sukamon's misfortune – a building or ocean landed on them, or the ground disappeared before their eyes.

But this was insufficient to destroy hope; in a way, it may have backfired. The digimon of File Island had already built a network of news and resistance that needed little physical context, and scattering them to the four regions of Spiral Mountain also gave them an opportunity to spread their encounters with the Chosen Children – and their message of hope and defiance – to everywhere in the new Digital World.

* * *

The Numemon were slaves now.

They had not been enslaved as prisoners of war in one of the many battles in which the Dark Masters conquered the Digital World, nor had they taken up arms against Mugendramon, although living beneath Waru Monzaemon's whip saw many of them wish they had fought back when they had the chance. They were slaves simply because they were numerous and filthy, and because Mugendramon regarded their species as vermin better sealed up in vending machines or sewers than ever having sight of the sun.

Many of the city's digimon also suspected that the power needs of Mugendramon's megalopolis exceeded any which could be provided by the local fuel sources, so he relied on an energy source which had powered civilizations since antiquity in the form of other intelligent living things. That Numemon were slaves was a product of digimon prejudice and Mugendramon's whims – that someone would be enslaved was an inevitable fact of Mugendramon's manner of rule. To some, this made Numemon slavery unjust and inspired a desperate resistance; but others admired the luxury of the megalopolis and turned a blind eye to the digimon cost.

Nor did most of the Numemon have any connection to the Chosen Children at the time. A few of them had popped out of vending machines to the children's shock and disgust; a few more had conspired with two of their disguised digimon partners to get their commander Nanimon drunk and desert Vamdemon's army, although they only realized the identities of "PunkAgumon" and "ReggaePalmon" long after the fact – and given what was going on in the Digital World, perhaps they would have been better off on Earth with Vamdemon. Yet these encounters were brief and only involved a few Numemon; most knew of the Chosen Children only from the stories of Andromon and the other members of the resistance, who could count on Numemon support and refuge whenever they fled the surface through the sewers.

The legend of the Chosen Children was soon associated with a grand figure of Numemon lore – _Hikari-sama_, the Queen of Light, a goddess who radiates with a brilliant white light that energizes the Numemon as surely as the sun curses them, and who would someday return to lead them back to the world they were long ago forced to abandon. Once, this world was understood as outdoors in the daytime, and the villain as the sun god; now, the Numemon cursed Mugendramon, and the Queen of Light was the Eighth Child, who the Chosen Children had traveled to their home world to find, and whose powers would liberate them all.

Some attribute the fact that this legend came true to the strange powers of wishes in the Digital World, while others claim it was based on reality to begin with, and note the extreme time difference between the Digital World and Earth in this era – along with the fact that August 1st, 1999 was not Hikari Yagami's first encounter with the digimon.

The Digital World never lost its hope. The legend of the Chosen Children – those heroes from another world who had slain Devimon and Etemon, had chased away Vamdemon, and would someday liberate them from the Dark Masters – gave digimon the world over a reason to persevere and a determination to keep on living through the rule of all-powerful, godlike digimon determined to turn the whole world into hell.

Through countless acts of defiance – some violent, some peaceful but dramatic, some as simple as living on – the Dark Masters learned the hard way that although the Chosen Children were absent, they had not been defeated, and that their rule would never be secure until those children were slain.

And when the Chosen Children returned from Earth, a network of loyal digimon helped them every step of the way. Some would live to see Spiral Mountain crumble. Others – far too many others – would not survive the war, but could take solace in the fact that their names are remembered in the Digital World's legends, and that they would be reborn in a Digital World freed from the nightmarish tyrants who had dominated it for so long.

And although every Chosen Child would play a role – Princess Mimi leading a digimon army, the Queen of Light liberating the Numemon – many found it fitting that Piemon, Lord of the Dark Masters, was defeated by a digimon born when the Crest of Hope – the hope of the Digital World – finally began to glow.


End file.
